Is it Christmas yet? No? Really? Are you sure? Let’s just pretend for a quick minute, because I have a Christmas card to share today, featuring Katie and Bear from Mo’s Digital Pencil.
I had to use my favorite color combination for Christmas on this one. Blue, grey and brown. I made my greys very light, so they look more white than grey, and I have to admit I kind of love the look! I printed the image with 15 % opacity and did no line coloring. I love no line coloring!
This card is very “me”. The cardbase is made from Papertrey Ink Enchanted Evening cardstock, I used a die from My Favorite Things to add the faux stitching detail on the main panel, and I added a little cluster of diecut patterned paper scraps. I stamped and heat embossed a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment on one of the patterned paper pieces and added three snowdrift sprinkles from Little Things from Lucy’s Card as my finishing touch.
Clean and simple with cluster, these cards come together so easily once the image is colored.
I used quite a few colors for this simple image. Lots of different earth tones for different parts of the image, and two grey families.
I colored up
This card is somewhat different for me. It has a lot of white space, which is fairly common for me, but I used a stencil and texture paste on the card base to change it up a bit, which definitely isn’t normal for me. I even sprinkled distress glitter all over the texture paste while it was still wet, so the card sparkles when you tilt it in the light. Glitter is a nightmare to photograph, though, so it doesn’t show up in the photos very well.
I used the Parker alpha set from Memory box to diecut the word klem, which means hug in Norwegian. I diecut each letter five times and glued them together for a stacked, dimensional look. I created a couple of pink cardstock pieces by using one of the Copic markers I used on the skirt, stamped the remainder of my sentiment and heat embossed in white before glueing them on with clear foam tape.
By adding part of my sentiment on top of the image, I get a more cohesive design than I would have if I had put my little sentiment strip above the word only. Just a little design tip. I finished off the card by adding a few raindrops from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
These are all the Copics I used, and I must admit that I really love the pink and peach combos I came up with for this one.
I colored up
I’ve had this image for so long, and it really felt good to finally color it up. I used the largest of the dies in the Stitched Rectangles STAX (2) set from My Favorite Things, before heat embossing a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment in white using super fine detail embossing powder from Ranger.
I love the look of those heart shaped raindrops from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. They’re part of the crystal collection and add the perfect little touch to such a simple card.
I turned my image into a card last night by stamping a sentiment, diecutting the entire panel with a faux stitch rectangle die, adding that to my card front and embellishing very sparingly with three clear crystals from the Ice Water mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. That’s it.
The sentiment is from the B04 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS. I love the stamps Åshild has designed and am so glad I have so many different sets from them. I used Enchanted Evening ink from Papertrey Ink. It’s a beautiful dark blue color.
Cards don’t get much simpler than this. And cards like this are so fun to make, too.
Would you believe I used 10 (yes, ten) different colors for the fur?? Am I crazy?
Utrolig nok er det faktisk kun ett mønsterark som er brukt på dette kortet. Den lysere, mer diskrete bakgrunnen er nemlig baksiden av mønsterarket med alle blomstene.
Jeg bestemte meg for å klippe rundt noen av blomstene og bruke dem som elementer på kortet mitt. Vanligvis liker jeg å klippe helt til kanten, men stilkene på disse blomstene er ganske spinkle, så jeg syns det var best med en hvit kant rundt for å spare meg for mye trøbbel.
Jeg satte lave 3D-puter bak blomstene mine og monterte dem der jeg ville ha dem på kortet. Nede i det høyre hjørnet ser du også at jeg har brukt det jeg hadde til overs på innsiden, der har jeg riktignok kun limt det rett på uten 3D-puter bak, med en tynn strimmel av det lyseblå tvers over nederst på innsiden. Tekststempelet på fronten kommer fra Fleksitekstplaten til Huldra designstudio og er stemplet med Papertrey Ink Enchanted Evening blekk. Den er egentlig ganske mørk, men mulig jeg burde ha gått for en farge som er enda mørkere, jeg syns den ser litt blass ut mot det mørkeste i blomstene.
Her syns det godt at blomstene sitter litt opp fra fronten av kortet. Jeg har brukt svarte 3D-puter, syns de ofte er bedre å bruke enn hvite, de er nemlig mindre synlige fra siden.
Til slutt limte jeg på raindrops fra Little Things from Lucy’s Cards i forskjellige størrelser rundt blomstene mine. Vanligvis setter jeg småpynt som dette rundt teksten, to under og en over, men her har jeg fokusert på blomstene istedenfor. Pynten gjør at øynene dras mot blomstene, og gratulerer-teksten blir mer som et bakgrunnselement.
Her har jeg stemplet og maskert en muffins, stemplet skilpadden, stemplet konfetti på bakgrunnen og hatt det gøy med tusjene. Jeg startet med skilpadden og muffinsen, før jeg fargela bakken i grått. Så var det himmelen sin tur. Jeg ville ha en slags ombreeffekt, så jeg startet øverst med den mørkeste blå av de jeg hadde valgt ut og fortsatte nedover med lysere og lysere blåfarger før jeg til slutt fikk en sømløs overgang mellom det blå og det grå. Til slutt var det grei skuring å fargelegge konfettien.
Jeg stanset ut panelet med den største dieen i Stitched Rectangles STAX set 2, den gir 1/16″ ramme rundt når man limer panelet på et A2-kort. Jeg brukte Fishtail Flag Frames-settet til å stanse ut bannere i koordinerende farger kartong fra Papertrey Ink (Harvest Gold, Orange Zest og Raspberry Fizz). Jeg stemplet og embosset tekst på det rosa banneret, limte det oransje rett på hovedpanelet og de andre to med 3D-puter i ulike høyder før jeg pyntet med paljetter fra Little Things from Lucy’s Cards i farger som matchet (paljettene er fra Candy Corn- og Sweet Shop-blandingene). Bannerdiesene fra MFT jeg har brukt stanser også ut ramme rundt selve banneret, og jeg har brukt rammen fra den rosa og satt på inni kortet og stemplet en av de andre tekstene inni rammen på kortets innside i rosa, man ser litt av det til høyre her.
Det er gøy å lage kort kun med favoritting!!!
I printed my image on a piece of X-Press It cut down to 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″. I colored my image with my Copics and used the largest of the stitched rectangle dies from My Favorite Things to cut it slightly smaller.
I’m also doing my best this year to use scraps of patterned paper. I have a basket of scraps that I’ve cut down to card front sizes, and I realized pink is the color I have the most of, which was the reason for my color choice today. I found a pink scrap in the basket that I wanted to use, colored my image in matching colors and took a bit of a dive into my smaller scraps to find pieces to use for my cluster. The circle with the sentiment is actually cut from the center of the patterned paper I used on the front of this card, which is a scrap from the Vintage Summer Basics collection from Maja Design. The diecut banners are from the Sofiero collection, the colors were perfect for this card.
I used part of a Doodlebug mini paper doily in the top right corner as a base for my small cluster. I had a tiny bit left over and glued in the opposite corner. I embellished very simply with a couple of hearts from the Rosy Glow mix from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards and sequins from the White Orchid Sequin mix, also from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. I added an epoxy pebble to the sentiment circle for a little bit of extra dimension and interest.
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m terrible at sticking to schedules. Seriously awful. And every year I tell myself to get started on Christmas cards early and make them throughout the year to avoid being swamped come November. Every year I’m swamped in November because I fail to make them throughout the year. I’m off to a good start this year though, I’m starting with this
I printed my bear onto X-Press It blending card (the best paper for Copic coloring) and colored it with Copics. Normally, I probably would have made his hat blue, but I wanted a dark blue background, so I needed a color that would pop against it. Anyone who knows me would also know that I’m not a fan of red for Christmas cards, but in 2019 I made quite a few Christmas cards with red in them anyway, and I guess I’m starting the new year with it, too. Not to worry, though, I’ll get back to my regular blue eventually, it IS the color of the year, after all.
I diecut a front panel with faux stitching around the edges and a nice big window in the top center. I stamped a Norsk Stempelblad AS sentiment using Papertrey Ink Scarlet Jewel Ink, added acetate behind my window and glued it to the front of my card using two layers of craft foam to really make those sequins and other few elements inside the window shake!
I love the dimension you get on such a simple card by doubling up the foam, it makes a big difference, and everything inside the window moves more freely.
I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so I made sure all the sequins were turned the right way before I glued my shaker shut. I used a combination of two different mixes from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards. Most of the elements are from the
Not a whole lot of colors on this image. I also used R52, which is a color I’ve made myself.
I used the largest of the dies from the Stitched Rectangles STAX 2 set from My Favorite Things to diecut the panel with my little guy, just for some subtle detail.
I covered the front of my card panel with a green piece of patterned paper and mounted my faux stitches colored panel with some low foam tape.
In the top left corner I made a very typical Elin cluster. I started with a Doodlebug Design mini doily for some softness, and made sure I didn’t glue it down completely. The little lift you get by not glueing it down is just enough. I diecut a few branches from that green patterned paper with a couple of CraftEmotions dies, a few banners with a die set from My Favorite Things and stamped a sentiment from Norsk Stempelblad AS that I white heat embossed. I finished with a few raindrops from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
Mostly green and white, with a little hint of red. I’m not a huge fan of red for Christmas, but the combo of this deep brown based red and this grayish, blueish green works for me.
I put together the floating presents and the image itself from Mo Manning’s
I used a stitched rectangle die from My Favorite Things to cut out my panel, glued it to a Hawaiian Shores cardbase from Papertrey Ink and added a simple cluster with a sentiment. The cluster is made from a Doodlebug doily, a pink Maja Design monochrome banner, a scrap of yellow patterned paper from Papirdesign and a sentiment banner made using a scrap of patterned paper from Studio Light. I realized after I’d glued my banners on that I hadn’t cut my sentiment banner on the one end like I normally do, so my banners are a little longer than normal, but once I realized they were already glued down, and I was not about to start over. I added a few clear crystals from Little Cards by Lucy, and that’s my card for today.
Lots of colors used on this one, even though it might not look like it.